Races

Last Saturday, I wore my new spikes for the first time in a sprint race since injuring my hamstring a few weeks ago in training. However, the spikes made no difference to my time, 11:25 sec -- exactly the same as the previous week.

I was really pleased with how I felt & went in the 800m -- best time this year: 3:29 min -- I'll keep working to get below 3 min.

Training

This morning training involved:

• 6 x practice starts
• 6 x 80m sprints with a 80%, slow, 100% pattern
• 1 x 300m sprint

I used my running spikes during the 60m sessions for the first time since straining my hamstring. No repeat of the previous problem.

Bingles, sunnies, & races

It was an interesting week last week. On Monday night I managed to have a bingle in my car on the way to run at QE II Stadium. Fortunately my car was still drivable (just a dent in the bonnet).

As I continued on to the Stadium I realised I'd left my prescription sunglasses on the top of my car when I got out to survey the damage. There was no time to go back and look for them as would have missed my race.

Ran the 800m in 3min 30sec! That was 20sec better than a week before -- very pleased.

On the was back home I stopped where I'd had the bingle & went looking, with a flashlight, for my glasses. Found the lenses first then the frame. Bit hard to see with the flashlight, but the lenses looked OK -- which was astounding given the number of vehicles which must have run over them -- it's a very busy highway. No so lucky with fame. It really did look like many vehicles had run over it.

Next day, off to the optometrist with the frame and lenses. They were as surprised as I was that the lenses were intact. They had them fitted to a new frame within an hour. I now have a set of sunnies better than before as the lenses kept falling out of the old frame.

Next to get the car fixed. My insurance company advised me I will have to fork out $400 as that is the basic excess on my policy. My son rings around and tells me a new bonnet costs $135 and that there are plenty in stock. So I give the insurance company the flick and Jason and I have the new bonnet fitted before the end of the day (about 30 mins work).

On Saturday I had three races at QE II: 3000m, 60m and 300m. The picture below shows me running the 3000m race. I completed it in 16 min 44 sec -- 4 mins faster than a couple of weeks ago.

The picture below is the start of the 60m. My time was 11:25 sec. It was the first time I've ever run this distance in a race so have nothing to compare it with.

The last race of the day was 300m. I finished that in 60:26 sec. Again, I've never run in a race of this distance before so have nothing to compare the result with.

Value Descriptors

I was up until midnight last night updating the Value Descriptors in the online database so I decided to skip sprint training which started at 7am this morning. I'll do an 8k jog thisarvo instead.

I've spent the morning re-organizing the Blogs page at www.minessence.net -- time for breakfast!!

Training

This morning it was 6 X practise sprint starts, 6 X 150m, 6 X 100m, then 6 X 60m (walking back to the start before each sprint).

Tonight is a 35min jog,

800 metres

Today was my first 800m race since the 70s (it was called an 880 then!). My time was 3:52. The first lap was fast but then I "died" but was still able to sprint the last 60m. With more training I believe I'm still capable of a sum 3min.

I also purchased this 1.5k discus from the Club for $2.00. Plan to have some fun with it, and get some extra exercise, at home.

Competation Starts

Track competition started Saturday Sept, 20. I just went along to observe -- still nursing a hamstring strain from training two weeks before.

Rather than give up training altogether, I took up bike riding while the hamstring was repairing. My physio said it would take 10 days to heal and he was spot on.

Last Saturday Stephanie & I ran the QMA (Queensland Masters' Athletics) 3000m event at QEII. I was rather slow, my hamstring was niggling, but I was able to run the full distance.

Monday night, Stephanie & I jogged for 45mins with an 100m sprint at the end -- no sign of my hamstring playing up!

Today I re-commenced sprint training with the QMA. We did:

• 6 X practise starts
• 6 X 30m at 75% leading into 30m at 90% (total 60m)
• 6 X 20m at 90% leading into 30m at 90% then 20m at 89% then flat out for the remainder (total 100m)

Looking forward to the competition this Saturday -- I'll enter into the 60m sprint and perhaps the 800m.